Here's a question for either Robert or any other Disney expert on TPI. Years ago I remember hearing on the news and reading in articles that the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, had a whole room/area in his house built as a replica of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride including an actual indoor boat ride. I've always thought it was a fantastical idea: being wealthy enough to have a Disney ride inside your own house. For years I hoped to see video footage or pictures from the room, but none ever surfaced. Now that Jackson has passed and his house at Neverland is empty, I would have thought we would have heard or seen something by this point. Was this legendary Pirates of the Caribbean room simply a myth/urban legend, like so many other surrounding the artist, or was it ever a reality?
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I really doubt that he had a Pirates' ride. What he had was a replica of the Disneyland train station from Main Street.
Robert, did you ask for an autograph?
Thanks for the responses so far. Based on a little research I did online, apparently the Pirates of the Caribbean ride wasn't at Neverland, but supposedly at his old home when he still lived with his parents before he moved to Neverland. This is based on interviews with Michael when he was 25 years old and right before "Thriller" would launch him into the stratosphere. But that still doesn't solve the mystery. Was the ride completed? Did it really exist? Are there are photos or video or it in existence?
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I don't know just what Michael had in his mansion, but I did load Michael and his crew onto Pirates of the Caribbean when I worked at the Magic Kingdom in Orlando. He was wearing the surgical mask and had another cloth draped over his head, making it look like his was The Mummy or something. He and his entourage came in with several Disney tour guides through the back door, VIP entrance to the ride, then boarded a boat while the regular queue was held back, outside the immediate loading channel on that side. He waited to be instructed to board and actually seemed as though he was noticing the cast members, unlike some other VIPs who came through from time to time.